| Some 15 miles from the Lebanese capital Beirut, on”Mount Harissa”, stands a huge statue of “Our Lady of Lebanon”. The name “Mount Harissa” was adopted by Duke Elington’s Far East Suite movement and was one of the band’s last memories. After Beirut, they traveled to Turkey; there they learned of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, which forced the cancellation of the remaining weeks of the tour. “Mount Harissa” is really two pieces: the haunting first theme, delineated by Ellington’s expressive piano, and the hard-swinging second section, which is given over to Gonsalves. As Gonsalves winds down and the band gives way to the return of the main theme, Ellington’s arpeggios shower the transition, and the piece relearns the energized serenity with which it began. As a composition, it is oceanic; as a performance, merely unalterable. |
Amir John Haddad: Fandangos de Huelva
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011| Amir-John Haddad was born In Freiburg Germany (Black Forest) in 1975 with a Colombian and Palestinian background. He was raised and educated in Germany and lived for a short while in Bogotá (Colombia). Since childhood he hasn’t stopped travelling and has been always in contact with music. His family environment taught him how to play music by ear. He learned music, his future language, by oral transmission and was only 8 years old when he officially started studying the Flamenco guitar after learning Arabic oud at home by the hand of his father and first teacher Rimon Haddad. Amir started playing live at school venues when he was 7 years old and by the age of 12 he gave his first public concert on a “real” stage. Since a very small age Amir was led to diverse music styles from South American folklore to classical music, classical Arabic and Oriental music over to African music, Flamenco music… as well as western influences like Jazz, Rock, Funk, Pop, Metal, Fusion… “When I was seven years old our TV quit working and my parents didn’t replace it so from that moment on I was raised without TV at home and that was very important to my playing and my innocent and creative approach to music!” |
Walter Hamady
Friday, September 30th, 2011Walter Hamady, an extraordinary artist of the world of paper making, book design, and bookbinding. He is a poet, teacher, collaborator, and innovator. No other artist has done more to influence the world of contemporary handmade books than Walter Hamady. Born in Flint, Michigan in 1940, Hamady studied art in Detroit, then Cranbrook Academy of Art (MFA). On a visit to relatives in Iowa, Hamady met Harry Duncan, a teacher at the University of Iowa, and saw a finely made artist book for the first time. This was the spark for Hamady. While an undergrad he founded Perishable Press Limited, and a few years later, Shadwell Papermill. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, having taught there for over 30 years(he is currently retired) .
His Perishable Press has designed and printed more than 130 limited edition books for well-known poets (Black Mountain Poets) and writers. Hamady also collaborates with visual artists. He has won over 13 AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts Fifty Best Books and Fifty Best Covers Awards). Hamady is known to be an amazing teacher and mentor. Many well known book artists studied with Hamady, including Barbara Tetenbaum, Walter Tisdale, Amos Kennedy, Caren Heft, Kathy Kuehn. One can say that Walter Hamady is the grandfather of current letterpress-bookarts-paper making students today. A self described “heretic aetheist curmuddgeon irrasible” [sic], he is known for his ‘random rambles’. Curmudgeon or not, one gets the tone of Hamady’s voice in his letters, lectures and teachings.
Which Arabic dialect to learn ?
Monday, October 26th, 2009| Spoken Arabic comes in numerous dialects depending on the country where it is used. Ask any question related to learning conversational Arabic so we may assist you with your choices. | |
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Robby Ameen: Virtuoso Drummer
Sunday, October 25th, 2009| Read the full article | ||
 
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Robby Ameen continues to build a solid reputation of a professional drummer with a unique and intriguing drumming style. He is truly a veteran of Afro-Cuban drumming, a music style to which he is dedicated with an active repertoire in the United States and Latin America. We caught up with Robby upon his return from Peru last week at the start of his US and Latin America tours with the renowned Ruben Blades Seis de Solar. The tour will span cities such as Miami, New York, Caracas, Lima, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Hato Rey and Valencia.
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Naomi Shihab Nye
Sunday, October 25th, 2009|
Naomi Shihab Nye (born March 12, 1952) is a poet, songwriter, and novelist. She was born to a Palestinian father and American mother. Her first collection of poems, Different Ways to Pray, explored the theme of similarities and differences between cultures, which would become one of her lifelong areas of focus.
Her other books include poetry collections 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, A Maze Me, Red Suitcase, Field Trip and Fuel; a collection of essays entitled Never in a Hurry; a young-adult novel called Habibi (the semi-autobiographical story of an Arab-American teenager who moves to Jerusalem in the 1990s) and picture book Lullaby Raft, which is also the title of one of her two albums of music. (The other is called Rutabaga-Roo; both were limited-edition.)
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Loubna Haikal
Sunday, October 25th, 2009Loubna Haikal is a Lebanese born Australian doctor and writer from Aktanit, Zahrani. She migrated to Australia with her parents in 1969. She has written for the theatre; ‘Near Saida’, a Folkloric Ballet, commissioned by the Melbourne Arts festival, and ‘Points of Exit’, a play in two acts, about power and political compromise. Her other works include: ‘Seducing Mr Maclean’, a novel, published by Picador 2002, a satire about a family of immigrants trying to make it in Australia. Short stories, broadcast on ABC radio national, and published in anthologies, literary magazines and on the web. She has appeared at many writer’s festivals as a speaker and commentator. She is currently working on her second novel.
Petra
Sunday, October 25th, 2009Petra is an archaeological site in Jordan, lying on the slope of Mount Harun in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It is renowned for its rock-cut architecture. Petra is also one of the new wonders of the world.
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